us here in new york city. good morning, everyone. i'm maggie rodriguez. >> and we got soaked around here yesterday. good morning, everyone, i'm harry smith. of course in the midwest there's still a lot of cleanup and a lot of water piled up all over the place there. and the big story, then, turns out to be in southern california. california, a record-breaking heat wave making l.a. feel more like death valley. in downtown los angeles yesterday, thermometers topped out at 113 degrees, an all-time high. more than 30,000 customers lost power. and the l.a. department of water and power says it recorded its highest-ever demand for electricity. "early" show national correspondent hattie kauffman reports. >> reporter: talk about scorching. los angeles topped out at 113 degrees, the hottest day in l.a. history. it edged out the previous record set in 1990 by one degree. >> i'm going to melt. >> quite frankly, you can feel your skin searing in the heat of it. >> reporter: normally cool air blows in offshore but a high pressure system trapped the heat, which is not good news for firefighters b